Claiming Woodbury
by gillyflower34
Summary: The governor welcomes a group of attractive women into Woodbury with open arms, only to find out that they are much more than what they appear to be. Rated M for sexual content. Companion piece to The Lady Claimers, takes place before that story begins.
1. Chapter 1

****This is a companion piece to The Lady Claimers. It takes place in Woodbury during season 2. Rated M for sexual content and violence. As always read, enjoy and review, I own nothing from TWD only my own original characters.****

Katie stayed quiet behind the bush where she was hiding, one hand over her mouth and the other clinging tightly to the long machete she used to make the dead stay dead. The end of it was covered in walker blood, and the blood was sprinkled across the neckline and shoulder of her shirt and her cleavage. The hair on the back of her neck was sticking to her, and little drips of sweat were trailing down her neck and pooling up in the cleft between her breasts, but she made no move to wipe them away. Her only thought was how she wished she was somewhere else. Anywhere but where she was. She didn't want to see what was about to happen, but she felt powerless when it came to looking away. No matter how much she wanted to cover her eyes, she had to see who these people really were.

The girls had left their bus hidden a few miles out behind an old warehouse. Roberta had a few strategic hoses from the engine in her bag to keep anyone from getting any ideas about stealing it. Then they had spent the day watching these people. Normally, Katie would approach another group openly. But this group was so large, it had scared her and the rest of her team. They were almost out of bullets. If these people wanted to try anything tricky with them, they would have no way to stop them.

Shortly after the girls arrived, a smaller group had approached the front gate of what the girls had decided was not really a camp but more of a town. The group looked like a married couple and two daughters. It was hard to tell from how far away they were, but the family looked hispanic and they were driving a yellowish fifties station wagon with a white top. The girls hid quietly and watched what would happen. Addy used a long range listening device so they could hear as well as see a lot of what was going on. At first Katie was relieved at what she witnessed. The small group was let into the town and they were treated kindly. They were invited to stay at the town for as long as they liked. A man talked about taking them to some rooms that they could stay in. From what Addy said she could hear, the family did not want to stay in the town, but was travelling through trying to find some extended family that was out of state. A tall man talked with the family and generously provided them with food and provisions for the road. Another man opened the hood of the family's car and checked out something that the father was pointing out to him.

"If he is giving them shit for free," Addy whispered, "I'm sure we can get him to trade with us for some of that medication we got from that big pharmacy we cleaned out."

"Let's wait and watch a little longer," Katie told her. Everything seemed alright. But it seemed a little too alright. She couldn't explain it, but something about the place just smelled wrong to her. When that tall man had touched the hispanic man's shoulder like they were old friends, it had made Katie's skin crawl. No one gave something for nothing these days. Not even her.

The gate was opened to let the family out. But the girls kept watching. As soon as the station wagon was out of sight, the tall man got a few other men together and they headed quickly away where Katie and the girls couldn't see them. Everything was quiet for a moment until a large truck pulled through and was quickly let out through the gate. The way the road curved around, the girls knew they could shortcut through the woods and see where the truck was going.

"Think that guy did something to that wagon," Roberta said. "Saw him stick something in his back pocket after he got done checking out that engine."

"Lets go find out what," Katie said.

"You all stay here and keep watching them," Roberta told the other women, "we meet back near the bus in an hour." Addy nodded.

"Be safe," Maria told them, reaching up to grasp Katie's hand in hers and give it one quick squeeze. Then Katie followed Roberta quickly through the woods, silently and quickly killing the few walkers that dared to get in their way.

The women got lucky, or really unlucky, depending on how one chose to view the present situation. The station wagon had stalled out right on the other side of the woods. Katie and Roberta snuck as close as they dared to where the family was now broken down. The father was poking around under the hood and swearing under his breath. Katie knew it was hard for Roberta to stay hidden and not help these people. Roberta was a mechanic, and could likely fix whatever minor problem the car was having that was keeping the family from getting on their way. But the truck from that town came pulling up slowly next to them.

The mother was smiling and the father looked relieved. Driving the truck was the tall man that had just been so kind as to give them supplies for their journey. The truck stopped and several men got out. They all had guns, but that in itself was not threatening. Everyone carried guns if they had them. Katie had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The tall man had another man with him that was wearing a strange looking device on his arm. Katie couldn't tell if it was some kind of weapon for killing the dead or if maybe there was something wrong with his hand underneath it. She watched him closely, holding her breath. Something about him made her heart beat harder in her chest.

The father spoke to the men from the town and gestured towards his car. The man with the arm sleeve spoke the father. The way they were talking, it was like they already knew each other. Then the man with the metal on his arm pointed to something behind the hispanic man in the woods. When the man turned to look in that direction he was shot point blank through the head. The gun the other man was using had a silencer on it and so the man's wife and children, still inside the car, had no idea that their husband and father had just been murdered. Katie covered her mouth to keep from screaming out. She could hear Roberta breathing hard and fast beside her.

Katie wasn't sure if there was still a god out there listening to her prayers, but she prayed harder in that moment than she had prayed in a long time. _Please please please don't hurt those kids, dear god don't let them hurt those kids. I cannot watch this._ The tall man was leaning into the car. There was no warning before he fired. Three quick shots in sucession. Each one was like a shot straight to Katie's chest. Katie felt Roberta's hand on her knee, as the woman tried to steady herself. They had seen a lot of terrible things since the dead started walking the earth, but this one wouldn't leave their thoughts for a long time to come. They stayed glued in place, listening and watching. One large black man seemed upset with what had just taken place. The tall man was attempting to calm him down.

"They were going back to get the rest of their people," the tall man said, "they would have come back and killed all of us if we didn't kill them first." The black man seemed to be trying to force himself to believe this lie, but he still looked uncertain. Katie watched the man with the metal piece on his arm. He said nothing, just walked around the back of the car and light up a cigar. Katie saw he made an effort not to look inside the station wagon as he walked by it. He leaned against the trunk, closing his eyes as he pulled the smoke into his lungs, holding it in for a moment before he blew it out in a swirling cloud. Despite what he had just done, Katie felt her nipples go hard. She didn't know why, but she felt irresistibly drawn to the man. She felt it in her bones, the same way she had felt it with David. Back when they had been young and wildly in love, before the world went bad and everything went horribly wrong between them. But her common sense was telling her to back down. This man was not David. In fact, he was nothing like the man she had loved for all of her adult life until now. This man was dangerous. And he was not to be trusted.


	2. Chapter 2

Katie and Roberta watched as the men dug through the car, taking back the supplies they had given the family and also taking anything else that they might be able to use. They even took the battery out from under the hood of the wagon. Then they pushed the car off the road and into the woods. The man with the metal sleeve on dragged the body of the hispanic man off the road and left him to rot behind a bush. He got so close to Katie and Roberta that he would have seen them easily if he had no been so absorbed in his present task. The girls gripped their weapons and held their breath until he was gone. There was no doubt in Katie's mind. If these men knew she and Roberta saw what they did, they would not hesitate to kill them.

Finally the men got in their truck and left. Once they were out of sight, Katie and Roberta ran back though the woods, catching up the rest of their group before they left to head back to the bus. They all walked back together. Katie was trying not to cry, and Roberta looked like she wanted to skin someone alive. The other women were disappointed. They needed guns, and bad. And the people in this town had a lot of them. Now they were not going to trade with them. And the large gun store in this area had been the reason why they had come all this way.

"We are getting those guns," Roberta told the rest of the women, "we are just going to have to do it another way." Then she held her arms out, stopping everyone. They were almost back to the bus and she could hear voices coming from around the corner of the building they had left it behind. Roberta signalled to the girls to spread out. Then they slowly approached the bus. A group of men were on it, digging through their things, tossing stuff out the windows and making a fucking mess of the place. Katie swore under her breath. After the day she had already had, this was the last thing she needed to deal with.

The men were stupid enough to not have anyone keeping watch outside the bus. The girls took up defensive positions surounding them. Katie got her handgun out, reminding herself that she only had two bullets left. Then she walked up the steps and onto the bus. Hidden behind the seat, she listened to the men, trying to get a feel of which one of them was in charge. A small group like this might scatter if you took out their leader. And she was hoping to speak with the leader first to keep it from coming to that.

Roberta watched her friend slowly climb the stairs. She felt it should be her in there. Roberta was the leader of their team, and she was the one that planned anything tactical that needed to be planned. But Katie was the ace when it came to negtiations. Roberta swore that girl could sell a man sand in the middle of the desert. She stayed behind the seat, listening to the men. When she figured out who she thought the leader was, she stood up and pointed her gun at him.

"Just what do you think the pack of you are doing on my bus?," Katie asked the men. All of them stopped what they were doing and looked at her. Joe saw that while she addressed her words to all of them, she was looking and pointing her gun at him. Smart girl. He took in her appearance. She was medium height with wavy blonde hair that fell to the chin and looked like it might have been cut in an attractive style at some point. Her lips were full and she had big light eyes that were framed with dark thick lashes. Most impressive was the size of her breasts, which had to be the largest natural looking pair he had ever seen on a girl that thin through the waist. He only had one thing to say about this woman.

"Claimed," he announced, pointing his gun at her. Several of the other men laughed. Katie wasn't sure exactly what the man meant by that, but she could guess by the way he was looking her up and down that it was something sexual. She figured it was best to ignore that comment.

"I want all of y'all off my bus right the fuck now," Katie told the men. None of them made any move to leave, and she could tell by the dilated eyes on a few of them that they had already been digging through the boxes of medication the girls had stacked up in the back of the bus.

"How many bullets you got left there kitten?," the man with the grey hair asked her, "you going to shoot us all?" She could see that she had been right in guessing that he was the leader. So far no one else had said one peep to her except him. She cocked her gun back and aimed it at his chest. It was a different kind of threat than a shot to the head. It meant not only will I kill you, I will let you turn.

"No Joe," she said, "just you."

"How does she know your name?," another man asked, "you know this bitch?"

"No," Joe said, "she musta been listening in before she came up the steps."

"You should really station a guard outside next time you plan to fucking rob someone," Katie informed him. He looked her over. She looked afraid, but not as afraid as she should. Which meant there were other people outside ready to back her up. And Joe didn't know how many or how they were armed. He put his gun away and put his hands up in the air. He smiled at the girl.

"Okay kitten," he said, "I surrender." By the way he said it, she could tell he would be happy to surrender to her in more ways than one.

"I don't want your surrender," she said, "I want you off my bus." She pointed towards the fire exit door in the back of the bus. "Get out." Joe nodded his head towards the back door, signalling the other men to head out. A few of them were too stupid to realize that they might be facing more than just the one girl they had seen. They cursed and mumbled their dipleasure as they headed for the exit door. Joe made sure they were going and then walked back towards Katie.

"You know we found this bus abandoned," he said, leaning against the seat, "that makes it fair game."

"Wasn't abandoned," Katie told him, "we just parked it here." Since the man was no longer overtly threatening her, she put her gun back in her holster. That was her mistake. The second she took her eyes off him, Joe lunged for her and grabbed her around the neck, holding a knife to her throat. He smelled like three day old socks and his breath was even worse. She could tell he was pressing more of his body against her than was necessary. He forced her down the stairs in front of him. The men had climbed out the back door and down onto the ground. Roberta and the other women had guns and bows on them, telling them to leave and there would be no further trouble.

"Just hold on there a minute," Joe called to the tall black woman that seemed to be in charge.

"Fucking hell," Roberta swore under her breath. A tall woman with light red hair seemed to get very upset very quickly about what was happening. She charged towards the man that had ahold of Katie.

"You let go of my sister right now!," she screamed. "LET GO OF HER!" Joe put his back against the bus, holding tight to the woman in his arms.

"Back up or your sister is dead," he told the girl. Mandy backed up a step, but kept the arrow that was notched in her bow pointed at him. Katie had her hands on the wrist and forearm of the hand that was holding the knife. She was planning to pull his arm down and away from her fast and hard then kick her head back and hopefully butt him in the bridge of the nose. Until she looked out behind her group and saw a huge group of dead coming their way. Joe felt the woman loose her grip on his arm and then she pointed.

"Dead incoming," she yelled. Then she said more quietly to him, "maybe we better kill them first and work out our differences later." Joe let go of her and she rushed to her sister's arms, hugging her briefly before they turned to face the small herd.

Katie plunged her machete into one of the dead ones that still had a little twitch to it. Then she braced her foot on it's head and yanked her knife back out, spraying the ground next to her with a splatter of blood. She had expected the group of men to run scared when the herd got closer, but they had not. To her surprise, most of them seemed to find killing the dead to be rather thrilling. Now both groups were eyeing each other, trying to figure out what to do next.

"Time for you boys to be on your way," Mandy told them. They might have helped kill a few dead, but one of them had been holding her sister hostage a few minutes before that.

"Hold on," Katie said, giving the man she knew was the leader her biggest and prettiest fake smile, "don't be so hasty Mandy." Mandy looked at her sister like she was crazy. These guys were bad news, not Katie's new friends. Roberta was also giving Katie a dirty look, one eyebrow raised and her nostrils flaring.

"You want to go into that town, right?," Katie asked Roberta. Roberta nodded, still giving her the stink eye. "Then we are going to need some backup."

"You talking about that big ass camp over yonder?," Joe interjected, "whatcha after in there?"

"Their guns," Katie said, "they cleaned out that whole giant gun store a few miles out."

"That place is well guarded," Joe said. He and his boys had already taken a look and decided not to mess with a group that size. "There is no way you are getting in there, and sure as fuck no way you are getting out with all their guns," he said plainly. These girls could fight, he had seen that when the herd of dead came in. But there was no way six girls were going to be able to take on a group of thirty or fourty armed men. Katie smiled at him again.

"No," she said, "there's no way _you_ are getting in there. _We_ can get in."


	3. Chapter 3

"Are the pigtails too much?"

Katie yanked at each tail of hair, pulling them tighter and making the ends fluff out more. Then she tilted the small mirror and turned, checking out her ass and making sure her shorts looked short enough. Addy finally shoved her out of the way so she could check her teeth and hair. Roberta was still sitting in one of the bus seats with her arms crossed, refusing to change into shorts and mad that she had let them talk her into wearing one of Maria's tiny tank tops. She looked Katie over. The woman had cutoff jean shorts on, her legs curving down into her cowboy boots. And her shirt, if you could call it that, was a tight black tank top that she had pulled down so far in front that the top of her bra was showing.

"You look like a post apocalyptic stripper," Roberta informed Katie.

"More like bait," Katie reminded her, taking out her chaptick and rubbing it around on her lips then smacking them together. "You look dead sexy." Roberta smiled even though she was trying not to smile. Then she looked over to see how Mandy was doing.

Mandy and Maria had a pile of ambien, valium and flexerils that they were crushing up by rolling full cans of soup over them. Once they had all the pills crushed up into a fine powder, they were going to portion it out into small baggies and stuff them into their bras. It was called the knock your stupid ass out mixture.

Since they had declared something of a truce, the men that had been ransacking their bus earlier had been allowed back aboard and were now busy eating all the granola bars while they stared at Katie's tits. Cassandra had drawn a small map out, and she was going over it with Joe, the man that seemed to be in charge of the small group. He was showing her which roads the men from Woodbury used to come and go the most often. Joe and his men had been thinking about setting up some kind of road block and robbing them, so they had been watching their movements for some time now.

The deal they had made was that the girls were going in alone. Joe and his group were going to stay outside the town and watch. Addy gave them her listening equiptment and a pair of binoculars. If things went bad, they were going to come in and help the girls get out. For this, the women were going to pay them in guns and medication. Since there was no real risk in it for him, Joe had quickly agreed. All they had to do was hang around for a few days. If things went bad, they could just take off. It they went well, they would get new guns, ammo and pills for almost no effort at all.

Katie didn't really trust the men, but a half assed backup plan was better than no back up plan at all. And Roberta agreed with her. Addy finished fussing with her hair.

"If we are doing this, lets do it," Roberta said. She got nods all around. "You know where we are going?," she asked Cassandra. Cassandra nodded. Roberta turned to the men, making sure she had their attention.

"Y'all can ride over with us, but then I want you to hit the woods quick before anyone shows up." Joe gave her the thumbs up. Cassandra took the map and walked up to the front, sliding into the drivers seat. Like Katie, she had boots and shorts on with a crop top. Her long dark hair fell down around her face in waves. She didn't have the curves some of the other girls did, but since her parents were originally from Thailand, she had the kind of look white boys thought was exotic. Stupid white boys.

The girls drove over to the spot Cassandra had decided on. They didn't want to get too close to the town and make it obvious, but they also didn't want to wait forever for the men to run into them. She guided the bus over to the side of the road and pulled the hood release. True to their word, Joe and his men climbed down the stairs quickly and disappeared into the woods. Roberta ran around front, pulling a hose that would make it so the bus wouldn't start, but would be simple and easy for anyone with half a brain to fix. All the girls climbed down and stood around the front and side of the bus.

"What now?," Addy asked, tossing her long red hair over her shoulder to better display the low cut shirt she had on.

"Now we wait," Katie said. "Don't forget to play dumb."

"I don't know how to play dumb," Roberta insisted. As a mechanic, member of the national guard, and very large chested black woman, she had spent her whole life proving to people that she was worthy of their respect. She had never pretended to be stupid before.

"Just smile, stick out your tits, and whenever you talk to someone, make sure to ask them something really stupid," Katie instructed. "Don't worry, they will do most of the work by assuming you're a moron before they even talk to you."

"Ain't that the damn truth," Roberta admitted.

"You are not going to put on the baby Katie routine, are you?," Mandy asked her sister. Katie put one finger up to her lips and batted her eyes at the woman. She stuck her gun in the back of her shorts and put her hand on her hips. Then she bit her lip and stuck out her breasts. She talked in a little high pitched baby sing song voice.

"What baby Katie routine?," she asked That sent Mandy off laughing. Baby Katie was not an idea she came up with on the spot, it was a character she had perfected over the years. Back when things used to be good between her and David, she would put the act on for him in the bedroom, complete with a school girl outfit and no panties. "You can't laugh Mandy, you are killing my mojo!" Mandy tried to choke off her laughter, but it was hard. "Too bad I didn't bring my plaid skirt." This sent Mandy off giggling again and she leaned against the bus, resting her head on her arm, her body shaking with laughter.

"We are all glad you didn't," Roberta informed her.

"I don't know Roberta," Katie said, moving closer to the other woman and grabbing at one of her breasts, squeezing it before the other woman could shove her off, "I think you might like it." Roberta smacked her away.

"How many times do I need to tell you, keep your hands off the merchandise," she said, shaking her head at Katie before she wrapped her up into a hug.

"Quit playing around," Maria told them, "I think I hear a car coming."

They scrambled into position. Roberta and Katie were up on the bumper, pretending to stare at the engine with their asses in the air. Mandy was on the ground, tying her shoe, bent over. And the other girls were standing around, leaning against the bus, holding their weapons. They didn't have to wait too long before the large truck they had seen earlier in the day pulled around the bend in the road, heading in their direction. It slowed down as it passed them by. Katie gripped the bus and leaned to the side and watched. They only got a few yards away before whoever was driving stepped on the brakes so hard the front of the truck dipped down low. The lights came on that indicated they were about to back up.

"That's right you stupid assholes, come on back," Katie mumbled under her breath. The truck backed up and pulled to a stop next to the bus. Katie saw the tall man was driving. The man with the arm piece was in the passenger seat, and two more men were in the back. Katie waited to see what they were going to do. She could tell the men were looking at them with more than a casual interest.

"You ladies need some help?," the tall man asked them. The girls looked at each other, acting like they weren't sure if they wanted to take help from these men.

"We don't want any trouble," Mandy informed him. The man stepped out of the truck, putting his hands in the air.

"No trouble," he said, "just wanted to see if I could help." Katie had to give it to the man. If she hadn't seen him shoot those people, she might have thought he was sincere. He seemed nice.

"Our bus broke down," Cassandra told him. Then he raised his gun. But he wasn't pointing at the girls, he was pointing at a walker that was shambling up behind them. He popped off a shot, hitting it in the head and dropping it. The sound shot made Katie jump.

"I can have my man take a look at your bus," he offered. Then he signalled the man in the passenger seat of the truck. Katie felt a blush rise up in her cheeks and she had to look down at the engine. Her face felt hot and she had to resist the urge to hold her hands against her cheeks to cool them. There was something about the way he moved, the undershirt he was wearing stretched across the muscles of his chest. It made her want to press her thighs together. Roberta climbed down from the bumper. But Katie just stood there, rooted to the spot. The man walked over to stand in front of her. From where he was standing, Katie knew he could see up her shorts. And he was not being shy about taking a look.

"If ya want me to look at yer engine," he told her, "ya might want to climb down." He offered her his hand. She took it and tried to climb down off the step gracefully. But she scuffed the tip of her boot on the pavement and went flinging into the man, nearly knocking them both over. A few of the girls giggled, assuming her tumble had been on purpose.

"Sorry," she said, backing off quickly and brushing herself off. The man stood there, blantantly staring at her breasts and legs. It made her feel naked. Most men she met looked at her, but she had never met one brazen enough to stare at her like that. Like he didn't care who knew he was looking.

"Merle," the tall man said, "the engine?" Merle tore his eyes away from the blonde woman and climbed up on the bumper, looking over the engine to see if there was anything obviously wrong. He found the problem quickly.

"Just have a hose here that musta popped loose," he said. The girls all smiled like it was the best news ever.

"We are so lucky you stopped by," Roberta told the tall man, "I was trying to take a look at the engine, but I just had no idea what I was even looking at."


	4. Chapter 4

The thin paper covering the cushioned part of the exam table was sticking to the backs of Katie's thighs. Cassandra was next to her, doing whatever the older black woman who seemed to be the town's doctor told her to do and pretending she didn't know more about injuries than the person examining her. Maria was technically their medic, but Cassandra had already learned a lot from her. Roberta encouraged them all to learn, the more people they had with medical knowledge, the better.

Katie was swinging her legs, watching the man in the doorway out of the corner of her eye. Once in a while she sneaked a glance at him, then quickly looked back down at her boots. The way his pants hung on his hips made her face fell hot. She opened her mouth when the woman asked her to, sticking the tip of her pink tounge out and saying aaahhh.

Merle watched the blonde woman. Before she opened her mouth, he saw her look at him again. He was lounging casually against the doorframe, but now he was feeling the need to adjust the crotch of his pants. There was something off about these girls, he still felt it, but that wasn't going to stop him from getting a look. Especially at the barbie doll. Now she was looking around the small exam room with big wide eyes.

"So you have a doctor's office here...," she mentioned. Then her face lit up with excitement. "Do you have a starbucks?" The dark haired woman next to her started to laugh. Merle assumed Katie was joking until he realized she was staring at him, waiting for an answer.

"No," he told her. She shrugged, looking disappointed. Her friend was still laughing.

"Katie," Cassandra said, "Are you serious? Starbucks?" Katie wrinkled up her nose.

"Doesn't hurt for me to ask," Katie insisted. Besides, she only needed to think up about five more and her stupid questions for the day quota would be filled.

"We do have an expresso machine," said a voice from the doorway. Katie and Cassandra's heads popped up. The tall man that everyone called the governor was in the doorway.

"For real?," Katie asked him. He nodded. "Will you make me an iced mocha?" He nodded again. Katie gave the disgusting man her biggest prettiest fakest smile. Of course he smiled back. Then she turned and gave Cassandra a smug look that made the tall man laugh. They came to steal weapons, but if she could get some fancy coffee out of the deal she would take that too. And whatever else she wanted, she thought, looking at the man in the doorway again.

"Don't know why ya want to ruin perrfectly good coffee by dumping a load of bullshit into it," Merle announced from the doorway. Don't know why you'd want to ruin yor face by opening your mouth and talking, Katie thought. But she knew better than to say that.

"If you don't like iced coffee, you are just one unhappy person," Katie informed him instead, in her little sing song voice. This made the tall man laugh again. And she could see the corners of Merle's mouth twitch up even though he was trying not to smile. The governor was holding a clipboard, looking like he was there for some inportant purpose. He gave the woman doctor a look and she scurrried out of the room without speaking.

"I came to ask you a few questions," he told the women. He was happy when he noticed they both straightened up and gave him their full attention. Though the blonde woman was still glancing at Merle from time to time. Phillip wouldn't have minded if she was looking at him instead. She was unquestionably the best looking woman out of the group, and that was really saying something, since all the women in the group were attractive. But he had been concerned about Merle from the start. The man had a lot of survival skills. Unlike the other members of his group, there was nothing to hold him back from taking off and making it on his own. If he became involved with a woman here in town, it would give him incentive to stay here in Woodbury and he would be easier to control.

"What were your jobs before the turn?," the governor asked the woman. Katie tilted her head to the side.

"What do you mean?," she asked him. Two down, four to go, she thought. Or maybe that one counted as two, since it was really extra dumb sounding.

"You got Katie's name down on that list?," Cassandra asked him. He nodded. "Write down trophy wife next to it." Katie opened her mouth, acting like she was offended.

"Homemaker?," the governor asked her. He tried to keep his tone serious.

"Does it count as homemaking if you have a maid?," Cassandra asked. This time Katie smacked at her.

"Homemaker is fine," Katie said, "and the maid didn't live with us, she only came once a week." Then Katie looked at the man in the doorway again. "You know my uncle used ta take me huntin' all the time when I was little, maybe I could help with that." She watched the look that passed between the governor and Merle. The governor was looking at him questioningly, and Merle gave him a shrug. Katie smiled. She had a feeling he was in charge of the hunting, and now she knew. That's why she had said that. The thought of being alone in the woods with him made her lick her lips before she even realized she was doing it. She blushed and looked down at her boots.

"Are you sure you don't mind us staying here?," Cassandra asked. The governor smiled gently and moved to put his arm around the woman. Katie was glad he had not touched her. The thought of him touching her made her want to throw up in her mouth a little. Cassandra leaned into him.

"You ladies are welcome to stay here as long as you like," the governor told them. Cassandra started pretending she was getting emotional about his offer. And Katie had to hand it to her, she was a pretty good actress. She was even tearing up a little and clinging to the front of this jerk's shirt.

"It's so bad out there," Cassandra said, turning to bury her head in the man's chest., probably because she thought she might not be able to keep a straight face.

"The other people we have run into haven't been so nice to us," Katie explained. She could tell by the man's reaction that she had said the right thing. The governor was clearly an egomaniac with some sort of fucked up savior complex. She made a mental note to pile on the compliments whenever she had the chance. He rubbed Cassandra's back, holding her close. Katie glanced at Merle again, wondering if she might get a little squeeze out of him if she started fake crying along with Cassandra. She didn't think so. He looked rather uncomfortable with the other woman's emotional outburst.

"That's all over now," the governor told the women, "why don't I show you where you will be staying." They usually put new people in a certain area, where they could be watched for the first few days, but he didn't see the need to do that with these women. They were going to be shown right to the same housing that everyone else lived in. There was one large apartment that he thought would work well for them. It had two bedrooms with large beds, and he had a few of the men take a sofa with another pull out bed inside it over there, along with fresh bedding and clean clothes.

He hoped the women wouldn't stay together in the apartment too long. He would rather them pair off and move in with some of his men. But that would come in time. For now he guessed letting them all stay together would make them feel more at ease. Safer. He wasn't completely stupid though. He was still going to assign someone to sit outside their apartment door tonight.


	5. Chapter 5

Once they got inside the small apartment and the door was shut, Roberta could tell the girls were ready to drop the act and start speaking freely. But she clapped her hands together a few times to get their attention. Then she pointed to her ears and then to the door. She had a feeling the person stationed outside the door was not just there for safety. He was also there to listen. And she was not sure how much he could hear through the door. Or maybe someone was watching or listening to them some other way. There was no such thing as being too careful. So she grabbed Katie and they headed for the shower.

With the water on full blast, they could talk into each other's ears without the risk of anyone being able to hear what they were saying. The governor had taken them all on a tour of the town. And they had been watching for one particular spot. The armory.

"Did you see any place you thought it might be?," Roberta asked, moving out from under the water so Katie could get her hair wet. Katie shook her head. She finished getting wet and switched places with Roberta so she could soap up.

"I didn't even see anyone coming or going with guns, they were all already standing on that wall." Roberta nodded. She had seen the same thing.

"They have to do shift change sometime, we can just watch where they go." They switched places again and Katie rinsed the suds out of her hair, feeling the soapy water run down her body. If she had been in the shower alone, she might have been tempted to wash another part of herself while she thought about the man that had been lounging in the doorway of the exam room. But it was time for business now, not games.

"Not from inside this fucking room we can't," Katie said

"We could sit out on that big front porch in the front of this building," Roberta suggested as she soaped herself up, trying not to tangle her hair up too much.

"Someone is going to have to do something about our guest first," Katie said, pointing in the direction of the apartment door. Then she moved and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself. Roberta rinsed off and shut the water off. She leaned in towards Katie and whispered in the shorter woman's ear.

"Maria," she said, "I saw him looking at her."

Martinez was leaning back in his chair. He had a gun on him, but it was in the holster on his hip. Normally, sitting outside in the hall watching new arrivals was a thankless task. But he had been rather excited to be assigned to take this watch. It wasn't every day that they picked up a group of beautiful single women. And while he wasn't supposed to go inside the apartment, he was more likely to have interaction with them sitting here than sitting out on the wall. He had gotten a look a short while ago, when on of the women from the kitchen had brought a tray of food for the girls. A few of them had been walking around in towels. And that beautiful hispanic woman had been in nothing but an oversized tshirt, her long black wavy hair still damp from the shower.

The door cracked open and Maria leaned out. Martinez straightened up, trying to look like he was serious about his job of keeping them safe. She smiled. Her teeth were straight and white against her darker lips. And she had long eyelashes that framed her big golden brown eyes.

"They brought us so much food," she said, "do you want to come in?" He stuttered a little. He really did want to come in. Badly. But it was against the rules. "I feel bad for you having to sit out here by yourself," she said, "you must be bored."

"I can't come in," he finally spit out, "Its against the rules." Maria laughed, making him feel stupid.

"That's a silly rule," she said. She opened the door wider, revealing that she was still wearing only the large tshirt he had seen her in earlier. Her legs curved out from under it, and he couldn't help but following the line of them with his eyes, all the way down to her bare feet and the chipped red polish on her toes. "I won't tell if you won't," she said. He thought about it again. Then he shook his head reluctantly. The governor had told him specifically not to go into the girl's apartment. He guessed it was because the governor didn't want anyone roughing these woman up or scaring them, but Martinez knew he better follow the rule anyway.

Maria looked at him. He was not an unattractive man. In fact, he was kind of cute. Or maybe it had just bbeen that long since she had been close to a man that wasn't trying to rob her or raper her. And she wasn't stupid, she had seen him checking out her legs, even if he was more subtle than that man who had been looking at Katie. She leaned her head against the door and pulled at the hem of her shirt. She knew her dark nipples were showing through the thin white fabric. And he was looking at those too, his eyes dark with desire.

"Is it against the rules for me to come out here and sit with you?," she asked him.

"Dunno," he said, "no one ever wanted to before." With that she shut the door. He guessed she took that as a no and went back to whatever she was doing inside the apartment. But the door swung back open a few seconds later. Maria was dragging a chair with one hand and holding a bowl of food in the other. Martinez got up quickly, making his own chair bump into the wall behind him. He took the chair from her and sat it next to his. Then he sat back down, moving awkwardly, not sure how to sit. She took the seat next to him, sitting so close her arm was touching his and when she crossed one bare leg over the other, the tip of her toe brushed against his shin.

She handed him the bowl, which had some dried fruit in it. He wasn't really hungry, but he shoved a dried apricot into his mouth anyway before setting the bowl down on the ground next to him. She had been nice enough to offer him something to eat and he didn't want to seem rude. He was looking at her legs, and her one bare foot that was swinging back and forth in the air. Shifting around nervously, he tried to figure out where to put his hands. Finally he stretched one arm across the back of her chair and put his other hand in his lap. When she leaned back into his arm, he sighed a little in relief. It had been a long time since he had been this close to a woman, and even longer since he had been this close to a woman this beautiful. He found he was more than a little nervous. And not sure what she had come out here expecting. If she just wanted to talk, he didn't want to scare her by trying to grope at her. Not only would that be rude, but it would get him in a shitload of trouble if she got upset.

Maria could sense his hesitation. But she could also see that his pants were fitting him a lot tighter in the groin area. She could feel a pounding between her own legs. Some of it was the thrill of what she was doing. Tricking these men was exhilarating. It made her feel powerful in a world where, especially as a woman, it was easy to feel weak. And it had been a long time since she had been laid. A really long time. And even longer since she had been laid proper. Since before her divorce, which had been well before the turn.

They were both adults. And there was no point in playing games. She leaned over and put her hand over the hard bulge in his pants. Then she kissed him. Her lips pressed against his. She felt him tense up at first, maybe because she had surprised him. But then he was kissing her back, parting her lips with his tounge. The arm that had been draped over the back of her chair came around her and he reached for her legs with the other hand, sliding her across the chair and into his lap. She pulled her mouth away from his.

"Are all these apartments occupied?," she asked. He tried to think quickly about where he could take her.

"There's a laundry room at the end of the hall," he suggested, motioning with his head. She got up from his lap, pulling him up by the hand. He didn't need any further encourangement. Taking her hand, he led her quickly down the hall and into the laundry room. He flicked on the light and pulled her inside. The door to the small room didn't have a lock on it, so he took a heavy bucket of powdered soap and pushed it against the door to keep it shut. Maria kissed him again, pressing her body up close to his. He tasted like apricots with a hint of smoke.

Then she backed off. He was worried for a moment that she had changed her mind about sneaking in here with him. But then she pulled off her shirt and tossed it on top on the washing machine. She turned her back to him and pushed her panties down, making sure to bend down a little and give him a good view of her ass.

She felt him close the distance between them, grabbing at her hips and pulling her flush against his body. She put her arms up, leaning back and wrapping them around his neck. Her breasts were jutting out, the tips hard and begging to be touched. His hands roamed over her body, feeling the hard muscles of her stomach and moving up to squeeze at her nipples. She moaned, arching her back. The hard bulge in his pants was pressing hard against her ass.

"Take off your clothes," she said, her voice coming out low and throaty. He let got of her and yanked his shirt off, dropping it on the floor. Then he fumbled with the buckle on his belt, and then the fly of his pants, pulling at the waist band so hard the button almost flew off. That's when she took over. Maria took his hands, placing them on her waist. With quick deft fingers, she unbuttoned his fly and pushed the zipper down, shoving his boxers down with his pants. She was happy with the part of him that sprung free from his trousers, pointing upward at full attention. It was big enough to get the job done but nothing too showy.

She spun in his arms, pressing her back up against his chest again. Then she caught one of his hands in hers, taking one of his fingers and putting it into her mouth to wet it. She swirled her tounge around the tip of it and then guided his hand down between her legs. Before he even touched her, she was panting in anticipation. His other hand was fondling her breasts and when he slipped his finger inside her she let out a loud moan.

"Shhh," he cautioned her. If people heard loud moans coming from the laundry room, they might think there was more than a couple people inside having sex. She leaned forward, bracing her hands against the washing machine and spreading her feet apart, her lower back arched invitingly. He used his hand, finding her opening and then guiding himself inside her slick folds. Now he was the one moaning, gripping her hard by the hips as he thust into her. He slowed down, realizing that he had slammed inside and started pounding the hell out of her without thinking.

"This okay?," he asked, pushing gently into her.

"I liked what you were doing before better," she said between her ragged breaths.

"It wasn't too rough?"

"No." He leaned forward, nipping at her shoulders and the back of her neck. Then he started slamming into her, hard and fast. She sucked in her breath, holding it and then letting it out in a soft cry when she felt her insides contracting around him. He pushed into her once more and then she heard him moan again. She rolled her eyes, knowing that he just blew his load inside her and that it was too late to do anything about it. If they had any condoms left, she would have made him use one. The last thing she needed was to get knocked up.

A minute after Maria went out into the hall with the chair, Katie opened the door a crack and peeked out. No one was there. She smiled. Maria worked fucking quick, she had to give her that. She opened the door the rest of the way and waved to Roberta to follow her.

"I got a pack of cigs," Katie said, "so just act casual and if anyone stops us we will say we were trying to go out for a smoke." Roberta nodded. She thought it was a pretty good cover story, anyone would be quick to believe it. Especially the drooling dog morons around this place. Every guy here had already stared down her shirt at least twice.

They walked quietly down the hall and to the door that they knew would lead them to the long wrap around porch. It was up on the second story, so if they sat close to the wall, they could watch everyone in town without worrying about anyone seeing them. It had been smart of Cassandra to ask the governor to give them a tour of the building. Because of that, they knew just where to go. And Cass had been laying it on thick too, hanging off him like polynesian arm candy. That stupid bastard had been taking all the bullshit they were feeding him and slurping it right down like a cold beer on a hot day.

Roberta cracked the porch door open slowly and they both slid out into the welcoming cool of the night air. They moved quickly, sitting down with their backs against the outside of the building. Katie lit a small joint she had hidden in her cigarette pack. The women passed it back and forth between them as they settled down to have a good long look at the nightly activities of Woodbury.


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as the sun was up, Merle was ready to go hunting. He had been thinking about getting out on his own for a while in the quiet of the woods, but then he remembered about that blonde woman wanting to help out with the hunting. He figured if barbie wanted to go hunting, he might as well give her a try out now, that way the governor could go ahead and find something else for her to do. The woods was no place for a woman, not before the turn, and especially not now.

He walked up the stairs and down the hall of the building he knew the girls were staying in. Martinez was sitting outside the door to their apartment with a big shit eating grin on his face.

"What tha fuck is your deal?," Merle asked the man. Usually people coming of night shift were not quite so chipper. The man only shrugged and kept on smiling. There was only one thing left in the world that could make a man that happy. "Ya get yer dick wet or what?," Merle asked the man. Martinez glanced at the door, trying to figure out if anyone was awake inside and if thet might here him. If Maria heard him bragging, she might not want to sleep with him again. And that would be terribly unfortunate.

"Fuck yes I did," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You went in there?," Merle asked. The governor had expressly forbid all of them from going inside that apartment. And when he gave an order, everyone knew they better follow it, unless you wanted to end up shot on the side of the road like that poor shmuck Morales.

"Hell nah man, I look stupid to you?," Matinez answered, "one of them came out here." He gestured to the door and then the hall.

"You fuck her out here in the hall?" Merle was actually feeling mildly impressed with the man. Being the first man to nail one of their new attractive guests deserved some respect. Martinez pointed down the hall.

"In the laundry room." Merle laughed. Then an unpleasant thought crossed his mind.

"Which one of 'em was it?" Martinez saw the mometary look of concern cross the other man's face, and he found it rather satisfying. Everyone knew Merle had a thing for that blonde girl in the cowboy boots. He had been openly staring at her since she arrived.

"Maria," Martinez told him. Merle was still looking at him questioningly. Martinez realized that had not meant anything to him, he didn't bother to remember any of their names. "The mexican chick." Now Merle was nodding, and though he was trying to hide it, Martinez swore he looked relieved.

Merle tried to remember if he had seen a mexican chick. Mostly he had been staring at the girl with the big tits. But he did vaguely recall seeing a more petite darker skinned girl with long dark hair. He finally shrugged and stepped past Martinez to knock on the door to the apartment. When no one answered, he pounded on it. A few seconds later, it swung open. Roberta was standing in the doorway, looking tired and rather disheveled. Before he could say what he wanted, she turned and yelled into the apartment.

"KATIE! Its for you!" Then she padded away and flopped back down on the pull out sofa next to Cassandra, pulling the blankets up over her head. Merle wasn't sure what had just happened. How had she known who he was looking for? For some dumb bitches, they seemed pretty smart.

Katie came shuffling out of one of the bedrooms. She was wearing a thin tank top with no bra and a pair of boy shorts. Her hair was ruffled up around her head and she was yawning and rubbing at her eyes. She scratched at her head, felt her hair was sticking out everywhere, tried to smooth it down, and then gave up.

"Whatcha want?," she asked Merle, leaning against the doorframe and yawning again. She and Roberta had been up most of the night spying, and she was tired. Merle stared at the woman. She was shorter than him, so he could see straight down her shirt and the outline of her nipples was showing through the thin stretched fabric of the shirt. What in the hell had he come here for, suddenly he had no idea. Katie yawned one more time and put her arms up over her head, stretching her back out and trying to get a crick out of her shoulder.

"Hunting," Merle said, remembering why he was knocking on her door.

"Ya wanta go huntin' right now?," she asked. He nodded, suddenly at a loss for words for the first time in his life. "Alright," Katie said, "lemme get dressed." The last thing she wanted to do right now was go hunting, in fact she and Roberta had a full day of sneaking around planned. But she was too tired to argue or think up an excuse. She motioned for him to come inside the apartment. "You can come in and wait." He didn't move from the doorway. That's right, she forgot the men were not allowed inside the apartment. "Or wait out here then, I'll be back in a sec."

She disappeared back into the room she had come out of. There were a few soft rustling noises and then she reappeared. She had a pair of leggings on, with the same tiny ass tank top, though it looked like she had a least put a bra on under it. She was wearing hiking boots, but the rest of the outfit did not look like proper attire for hunting. Not even close. She did have a sort of utlity belt around her waist, which held an empty knife sheath and a gun holster, also empty. And there was a pack on her back that looked mostly empty. But mostly she just had her titties hanging out everywhere. And a thin line of flesh was showing above the waist band of her pants.

"That's what ur wearing to go huntin'?," he asked her. This was not starting out well. Stomping around in the woods with blue balls and a big boner in his pants did not sound like fun. Katie held her finger up as if to say, hold on a minute. Then she swung her bag around and rifled through it. He was hoping she had another shirt in there. But instead she pulled out a small tube of pink lip gloss and applied it liberally to her full lips, smacking them together and making a popping noise. She tossed the gloss back into her bag and swung the bag back up on her shoulders.

"Now I'm ready to go hunting."


	7. Chapter 7

He started off, stalking quietly through the woods. Merle got about 10 yards before he realized he didn't hear anyone stomping after him. Everyone in Woodbury that he had tried to take hunting had one thing in common, they all stomped through the woods like packs of angry sasquatches, stepping on every stick or brittle pile of dry leaves in sight. It was the main reason he liked to go hunting by himself. He spun in his heel, preparing to call back to Katie and tell her to hurry her fucking ass up if she was coming with him.

He slammed right into her, knocking her backwards onto her ass and sending her coffee flying. The cup landed on the ground, the top popping off and the liquid spilling out onto the ground. Katie scrambled up, brushing off her behind and stepped over, looking down at the spilled cup like it was her puppy and Merle had just shot it.

"Oh no, my coffee," she said, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout. Merle had been so suprised to find her there, right behind him that he just stood there staring for a moment, rubbing at the course stubble on his chin. He couldn't believe she had been walking so silently behind him that he had not heard her there. And she had been drinking her coffee, like she wasn't even paying attention to where she was going. Something just wasn't adding up about her story. The only other person he knew that was that quiet in the woods was Daryl. Merle took a good look at her. She was still staring down at her spilled drink like the liquid might magically jump back into the cup. And she looked so sad.

Before Merle could stop himself he found he was apologizing to her. "Sorry," he mumbled lamely. Katie sighed. She picked up her now empty cup and lid, shaking the rest of the liquid off before shoving them into her pack.

"It's alright," she said with another sigh, "I guess I was walking too close." Getting a good look at his ass was what she had been doing. And maybe she had snuck a look at his shoulders too.

"I thought ya said you ain't been hunting since you were a kid," Merle mentioned. She shrugged. "You walk pretty damn quiet for someone that don't hunt much." This time she smiled. Merle was no dummy, she had to give him that. Katie guessed she should have stomped around a little if she wanted to pretend she didn't know what she was doing out here, but she had been more concerned with what she was looking at then how she was walking. And being quiet in the woods was like second nature to her. It was the first thing her daddy and uncle taught her when she was learning how to hunt.

"I might have been hunting a little more recently than that," she admitted, "A girls gotta eat." She gave him a big smile, moving closer and putting her hand on his arm, hoping that would put an end to this line of questioning. It seemed to distract him for a moment, he looked at her hand and then down her shirt. But then he looked up, his eyes locking on hers.

"Why were you puttin' on an act like ya didn't know what you were doin' then?," he asked. Katie took her hand back. This motherfucker was like a dog with a bone. She was going to have to tell him something, and she had a feeling that if she fed him a line of made up bullshit, he was going to know.

"Didn't want to seem like a threat I guess," she admitted. It was simple and close to the truth without revealing too much. Merle nodded, seeming to accept this explanation. It did make a certain amount of sense. When the governor had picked him up, he had been more than eager to show what he could be worth to the group. But as a woman, Katie didn't need to do that. She already had a different kind of worth. And some men were threatened by a woman that was stronger or could shoot better then they could. Some men were pussies.

"How often do you actually go huntin' then," he asked. The spot on his arm where she had laid her hand still tingled from her touch. Katie looked up at him. She didn't know why, maybe it was the more gentle way he had asked her that last question. But she suddenly had an overwhelming urge to tell him everything. The truth. And all of it. About how they needed the guns, about her family back home that she had to protect, and about the horrible men that were hiding outside the camp, watching them. But instead she took a deep breath and shoved all that down inside her. She could never put her friends at risk like that. He was asking about hunting. She could tell him the truth about that. And that only.

"I go all the time," she said, "before the turn I went once a week at least since I was a kid. Now it's almost everyday. For food."

"You the one that's been feeding your group then?," he asked. He had noticed before that these girls didn't look as skinny and hungry as the people that usually came in off the road. She nodded. He made a little hmmph noise, looking her over again like he was meeting her for the first time and this time giving her a little nod of approval. She felt herself start to blush and she looked down at her feet, kicking the dirt with the tip of her boot. When he grabbed for her she wasn't expecting it.

His arm slid around her waist, pulling her hard against him. Her breasts were smashed between them and she could feel the sheath of her knife pushing into the bone of her hip. He kissed her hard, forcing her mouth open and shoving his tounge inside. She brought her hands up on his chest, pushing him forcefully away from her and yanking her head back, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. Her heart was pounding and she could feel the tingle in her breasts as her nipples puckered up into hard little points. He grabbed at her again and she slapped him hard across the face. They were both breathing hard and she backed up another step, moving further away from him.

"Keep your fucking hands off me," she told him. He pointed at her with the knife on the end of his arm piece.

"Bullshit, you fucking liked it," he announced. He wasn't stupid, he could see that she was aroused. And before she shoved him away, her body was responding to him like a woman that was begging to be taken.

"Like fuck I did," she cursed, "I don't open that wide at the dentist." That made him laugh. He supposed that comment was fair. She wasn't some drunk bar whore that had her hand down his pants before they even made it to the car.

"Sorry," he said for the second time that morning.

Roberta and Addy walked casually down the sidewalk, being sure to smile at everyone they saw. There had been a shift change about two hours after she and Katie snuck out on the porch to spy on the town. They had seen people with guns coming from a certain direction. And the people on watch went back in that direction, then came walking back out to go home without the guns they had been using to keep watch. Now they knew what time shift change happened. The only problem was, wherever they had been going was aroung the corner of the street and the women had not been able to see which door the men had been using to pick up and drop off the guns.

The plan was to find some excuse to hang around near the place where the people had been coming and going from, and try to figure out which building the armory was in. They got lucky when they saw some kids playing jump rope in the middle of the street. The women offered to twirl the long rope for them, and Addy went on, teaching them some new rhymes to sing while they jumped. Now they could hang around here without having to answer any questions about what they were doing.

It wasn't long before Roberta saw a man go into a building and come out with a semi automatic assault rifle. He was carrying an extra clip for it too. She gave her head a little jerk to the left, making sure that Addy saw it too. Then they went on with the rhyme they were singing to the little girls.


	8. Chapter 8

Phillip had taken a few guesses as to exactly what sort of hunting Merle was planning to do out in the woods, alone with the woman from the bus. So he was surprised when the two of them came back through the gate, swinging a good sized deer on a pole between them. But it worked out perfectly according to his plan, since now he had the perfect excuse to invite all the girls over to his house for dinner. He had been keeping a close eye on them all day, and so far they seemed to be adjusting well. Two of them had even played jump rope with his daughter and a few other children earlier in the day. And that had pleased him.

Getting ready for dinner was the perfect excuse for them all to take showers. Roberta climbed in with Katie like she had the night before. Roberta had her hair pinned up since it was still mostly clean, but Katie was washing hers again.

"I think I found the building where the armory is," Roberta said. She couldn't help but notice that Katie had a big smug grin on her face.

"You think you found it, girl I was right up in that shit!" Katie was under the water spray and her voice was getting loud with excitement. Roberta shushed her up.

"You were in there?," Roberta asked. Katie nodded and switched places with her.

"Yeh, and we are going to have a problem. The room we can get into easy. And some of the stuff is loose in there, especially the ammo. But all the big stuff, the real guns. They are locked up in three big ass gun safes with combination locks on them."

"Fuck," Roberta swore. They could bust down a door, or pick a lock, but they were not going to be able to crack into gun safes that they didn't know the combination for.

"I pretended I wanted my specfic gun I came here with," Katie added, "I got Merle to open up all three safes for me looking for it."

"So we know he knows the combination to all three of them then?" Katie nodded.

"Yup." Roberta smiled at Katie. There were times when the woman drove her crazy, especially when she would insist on picking up stray animals they found out on the road and then bring the filthy things onto the bus so she could take them back to camp with her. But Roberta couldn't ask for a better partner. Katie was smiling back at Roberta and then they both started laughing.

"Tomorrow night is when I want to hit them," Roberta said, so we have tonight and tomorrow to figure out how to do it.

The food was good. There was wine. And since the governor, or whatever it was that he called himself, liked to do nothing more than listen to himself talk, all the girls had to do was nod and smile. Cassandra was sitting next to him, touching his leg under the table from time to time and smiling a big fake smile at him. The trick for Cassandra was going to be to get this asshole interested enough that she could easily score an invitation out of him for something more intimate tomorrow night, but not so interested that he was going to try and get her to stay the night tonight. She found him repulsive, and there was no way she was going to sleep with him unless she ended up with no other option. And no fucking way was she going to do it more than once.

The women had been introduced to another man, an old looking nerdy fellow that the governor told them was his advisor. Advisor sounded promising. It sounded like someone that probably knew things. Like the combinations to the gun safes. Addy sat down next to him, striking up a comverstion about electronics. Soon she had him smiling at her, prattling on about a load of bullshit that Roberta couldn't understand even if she tried. Addy seemed to be holding her own in the discussion. She was in charge of all the power and wiring back at camp, so maybe what the man was saying actually interested her. It was hard to tell.

Roberta was keeping a close eye on Katie. She knew the woman was on her third glass of wine. And when Katie got drunk, she got sloppy. Roberta tried to get her attention without alerting everyone else to what was going on, but Katie was much more interested in flirting with the man next to her.

"Katie," Roberta said quietly across the table, "I don't want to have to roll you out of here." Katie finished the last of her glass and put her hand over the top when Merle tried to refill it for her. She glanced back at Roberta and held her hands up, as if to promise that she was done.

"I've had a little to much wine," she said, pushing her chair back from the table, "I think I'll get some air." Katie headed for the door that lead to the front of the building. Merle about fell over himself trying to get up and rush after her. Roberta noticed a few men at the table were laughing at him, including the governor. She smiled. But really, she was not very happy about the situation. She could tell by the way Katie was acting that this wasn't all an act for her. And that was not good.

When Katie hit the door, the fresh air hit her. It had been getting hot and stuffy in that apartment with so many people packed in there. And her head had felt like it was about to start spinning. She smiled at Maria, giving her a little wave. Maria smiled back. She was sitting on a porch swing with that man she had been fooling around with the night before. Her legs were draped across his lap and he had his arm around her. Whatever she had gotten from him the night before, it looked like she was thinking about taking another helping. And hopefully finding out who was on guard duty and when.

"I might not be coming back to the apartment tonight," Maria mentioned to the other woman as casually as she could.

"Might?," Katie asked. She leaned against one of the support beams that were holding the roof of the porch up. Then she gave Maria a little grin.

"Well, Ceasar has guard duty tomorrow night..." That made Katie smile. Martinez thought it was because she was happy for them, and Maria knew it was because Maria had obviously already gotten all the information they needed and then some out of the man without him realizing anything was going on.

"Ceasar?," Merle asked. He laughed. Martinez shrugged him off. He liked this girl, so he figured she ought to at least know his first name. And it felt weird having someone he was kissing call him Martinez. He got up, pulling Maria along with him by the hand. She already said she would come home with him, and he planned to get her out of there before any more of her lady friends came out and tried to change her mind.

"Be safe honey," Katie called to Maria as she headed down the steps. Maria blew her a kiss and gave her a little wink. Then she turned her attention back to the man next to her, slipping her arm around his waist as they walked down the street together.

Katie took the spot Maria had been sitting in on the swing. Merle was quick to sit down next to her, scooting over so close that the outside of their thighs were touching and there was a large empty section of swing on the other side of him. He had his bad arm draped around her over the back of the swing. And he was staring down her shirt. When he finally looked up at her face, he saw she was watching him, with a rather amused expression on her face.

"Trying to figure out if they're real?," she asked, trying not to giggle. It had been a while since she drank, and the wine had gone straight to her head. Her cheeks felt hot and she was feeling more relaxed than she thought she ought to be at the moment. He reached over and groped one of her breasts, squeezing at it and running his thumb over her nipple before she smacked his hand away. That woke her up.

"You have some nerve," she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. He thought she might get up and storm off, but she just sat there, looking at him. She was biting at her lower lip, with one eyebrow raised. "You could at least apologize," she told him.

"I'm only sorry I didn't get to grab the other one," he informed her. Katie started laughing. He had not expected that reaction, and it stunned him for a moment. He figured maybe it was an invitation and moved his hand across her to grope at her again. This time she was ready and she smacked his hand away from her, then she took his hand and threw it back into his lap.

"You are unbelievable," she informed him. Drunk or not, he wasn't going to get anywhere with her by acting like a horny teenager. The same thing was going on when he shoved his tounge down her throat earlier. You had to work up to something like that.

"You're tha one that was flirting with me," he reminded her. She couldn't stop herself from laughing again. But this time she was laughing at him. What an asshole. At that moment, she didn't care about playing nice or using these guys to steal from them.

"I guess that was my mistake," she said. Now she was getting up off the swing like she was going back inside. she took a few steps away before she turned and walked back. "I thought you were a man," she said, pointing her finger at him. Then she turned on her heel to walk away again. He caught her by the back of the belt on her jeans, yanking her back down onto the swing. The swing rocked around, chains jingling. The force of his movements almost spilled them both down onto the wooden decking of the porch.

"You sayin' I ain't a man?," he growled into her hair, his hand snaking around her waist to hold her there next to him.

"I'm saying you kiss and grope like a little boy," she said. Her voice was small and quiet. She could feel his hot breath on the bare skin of her neck. He look his arm from around her waist and took hold of her by the face. His hand covered her neck and the tip of one finger was rubbing the sensitive spot right behind her earlobe.

"Was just havin' a lil fun with ya," he told her. She flicked her eyes up, meeting his stare. He was leaning in, getting slowly closer to her mouth with his, wondering if she was going to smack him again like she had in the woods earlier. When he kissed her this time, it was feather light, just a tiny brush of skin against skin. She felt the electric tingle run through her body, all the way down to her toes. He pulled back just a little, letting her come to him, which she did. Her arms went up around his neck, one hand stroking the soft skin on the back of his neck.

She pressed her mouth on his, her full lips parting this time without him having to force them apart. When he slipped his tounge inside her, she moaned softly into his mouth. Katie heard some high pitched giggling coming from the doorway of the building and she yanked her head back. It was the little girl with the pigtails the governor had introduced to them earlier. She had eaten some dinner with them and then been whisked away to bed.

"Penny?," she asked the girl, "are you supposed to be out here by yourself sweetie?" Penny shook her head. Katie got up and walked over to the girl, taking her by the hand. Merle got up from the swing, adjusting his pants and cursing under his breath.

"Come on Penny," he told the girl, ushering both her and Katie inside the building, "let's get you back to your dad."


	9. Chapter 9

Cassandra scrunched at her hair, using a little water to get some of the lazier curls to spring up. She had a dress on, which she thought looked stupid and all the other girls insisted made her look pretty. Tucked down inside her bra was one small packet of crushed pills. Pressed up against her other breast was a larger baggie of the same thing.

"You know what to do?," Roberta asked her. Cassandra nodded. Then she and Katie strapped on watches, making sure they were set to the same exact time.

"I am going at 9:45," Katie reminded her, "Give me until 10 before you come out."

"What time is it now?," Roberta asked.

"Nine," Katie told her. She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans again. Her heart felt like a caged animal inside her chest. There was an expected knock on the door. Cassandra took a deep breath and fluffed up her hair. Then she turned on her smile and opened the door.

"Hi," she said, leaning in to hug the much taller man around the waist.

"Ready to go?," he asked her, making sure to give the other women a smile. He only saw a few of them, so he guessed the others must be in bed or in the shower.

"I was born ready," Cassandra teased, taking his arm with hers. She called back to Katie and Roberta, "goodnight, don't wait up." Roberta kept smiling until she shut the door. Then she went back to the tense face she had before. Addy was over at Milton's lab, working on some sort of project with him. Maria and Mandy came out of the bedroom, gave it enough time for Cassandra to get the governor back to his house, and then they darted out the door. Katie had given her sister a quick tight hug. Mandy had a crowbar behind her back. She needed it to get into where she was going, but having it was going to be pretty hard to explain if she got caught.

"I can't fucking stand waiting around like this," Katie complained.

"It will be over soon enough," Roberta said, "one way or the other."

Cassandra smiled and sat down in the chair that was pulled out for her. She was a little surprised that the man had actually prepared dinner for her. When he asked her to come over for a quiet dinner after he put his daughter to bed, she assumed he meant come over for a fuck. It was nice that he actually made her dinner, maybe even classy. She smiled at him, classy or not, she was still going to drug him and steal his shit. And once he was passed out, she might punch in the balls too, just because she didn't like him. Cassandra picked at her dinner, making sure only to check her watch when he wasn't looking.

"Not to your liking?," he asked her.

"Huh?," she asked. Her mind had been somewhere else.

"The food," he said, "you're not eating."

"I guess I am a little nervous," she said in a voice that she hoped was coming off as shy and flirty.

"Let me get you a drink," he offered. She hopped up. Then she moved around behind him, rubbing his shoulders.

"Why don't I get you one," she offered, "you were such a gentleman to make this amazing meal for me." She leaned down and kissed him. Without waiting for him to answer, she walked over to where she knew he kept the liquor.

"In here?," she asked, even thought she already knew. She had watched that fucker like a hawk the night before. She knew where he kept everything. He nodded. Cassandra opened up the cabinet and got out two glasses. "Is it ok if I get some ice from the little fridge?" Fucking better be, she thought, or I am not going to be able to get these drugs in your drink and I might have to settle for bashing your head in instead.

"Of course," he said, turning on his chair to smile at her. Her hair was long and wavy, and she was wearing a red dress. He had not seen a woman in a dress in a long time. Cassandra went around the corner, opening up the small fridge and getting out the ice tray, she clunked a few cubes in each glass and then grabbed for the baggie in her bra. She fumbled with it, ripping it open over the glass and then stuffing the empty plastic bag back into her bra.

She walked back over to the cupboard, glasses in hand. Then she filled each glass half up with whiskey, adding some water so she had an excuse for stirring the drinks with the handle of a spoon. She handed him the drugged glass and set down in the chair next to him, putting her hand on his leg. Drink up motherfucker, she thought. When he tipped the glass back, draining at least half of it she smiled. She tipped hers back, taking all of it down in one long gulp.

"Drink up," she told him, "lets go to bed." The man needed no further encouragement. He tilted his glass back, tossing the remainder of the liquid down his throat. Then he pulled Cassandra into his lap. She kissed him, climbing on top and putting on leg on each side. When he moved his head down, kissing her exposed cleavage, she checked her watch. It was 9:40.

Katie walked down the steps of their building and headed for the front gates. She wiped her palms on her pants again, and took a deep breath. When she started getting close, she picked up the pace, trying to look worried. Martinez spotted her and called over to Merle. He came down the ramp quickly.

"Something wrong?," he asked. These girls knew it was against the rules to be out here at night, and from what he had seen, they followed the rules. He was actually worried something was wrong.

"I heard a noise," she said, "sounded like moaning." She knew she was close enough that the other men on the wall heard her, and that's exactly what she wanted. Martinez signaled to Merle for him to go ahead and check it out. The man was smiling when he turned back to watch duty. Merle walked quickly over to the front door of Katie's building, but she caught him by the arm.

"That's not where I heard the noise," she said, "It was coming from your place." When he turned around to look at her she was giving him a big grin.

"You didn't hear shit, didya?" She shook her head.

"No, but I bet I bought us at least a half hour before anyone comes looking," she said. Merle stood there a moment, thinking about how much trouble he was liable to get in for this and whether or not it would be worth it. He looked at the tiny shirt she had on.

"Come on then," he said. He grabbed her by the hand, leading her to the next building down and up the porch steps. By the time they got to his door, she was already in his arms. He was struggling to get the key in the lock, swearing under his breath while she grabbed at the zipper of his pants. Finally Katie turned, snatching the key from his hand and sliding the key into the lock, turning the doorknob forcefully. The door swung open and she dropped the keys on the floor, pulling Merle into the apartment with her. He kicked the door shut behind him, tossing his rifle near the door. What Roberta told her before she left ran through her mind. _Make sure you get that thing off his arm, I don't want to get hit with it._ Katie slid the straps of her bra and tank top off her shoulders and pushed them both down so they scrunched up around her waist. Then she started yanking at the straps on his arm piece, trying to pull it off.

He pushed her hand away and pulled at the straps himself, sliding it off and letting it chunk onto the floor. Katie smiled. She knew once her tits were out he wasn't going to fight her on anything she wanted him to do. He grabbed her around the waist, pulling her against him and walking her backwards towards the bedroom. Her hands were between them, unzipping his pants the rest of the way and shoving them down off his hips. Then she felt the wall against her back, and he slipped his arm under her, boosting her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist.

She could feel him, pressing hard against her through the fabric of her jeans. He was kicking at his boots, stepping on the heels of them, trying to push them off as he ground his hips into her. She felt her teeth clash with his and then they were kissing, hard and deep. It was the kind of kissing that made it so you had to come up for a breath like you had been swimming underwater. Katie pushed him back, putting her feet on the floor and taking a few deep breaths. She knelt down and unlaced his boots so he could get them off. When she stood up, he stepped out of his pants. Fumbling with her own clothes, Katie shoved everything down to a pile on the floor and kicked it off, stepping on the tips of her socks with the other foot to get them off. Once she was in all her naked glory, Merle put one arm under her legs and the other around her back, lifting her off the ground and heading for his bed.

Cassandra couldn't let the governor take her clothes off, or she knew he might find the large bag of crushed up pills stuffed inside her bra. So she shoved him down on the bed and knelt on the floor in front of him, opening up his pants. He was already swaying back and forth slightly from the drugs she had slipped into his drink. She slid the tip of him into her mouth, moving back and forth a few times before he collapsed, falling backwards onto the bed. She pulled off him and spit on the floor, wishing she had something to rinse her mouth out with. Then she stood up and leaned over him. She lifted up his arm and dropped it. It flopped onto his chest like a dead fish. Just to be sure he was all the way out she took aim and slapped him hard in the balls. He barely even flinched.

Cassandra moved back, looking around the apartment for something that she could use to tie him up. She finally settled on some neckties she found in a drawer. The hardest part of all this ended up being dragging him all the way up onto the bed so she could tie him to the headboard. Just for kicks she tied his feet up along with his hands and left his fly open. Seeing him like that gave her a laugh. And since he was expecting to get her into bed tonight, no one was going to come looking for him.

She darted into the small kitchen area, filling the coffee pot with water and dumping it into the coffee maker. Taking the larger bag of crushed medicine out of her bra, she poured it into the pot and put a little more water inside, stirring to make sure all the pills dissolved. Then she shoved the pot into its place and switched the coffee maker on. The stupid thing took forever to start gurgling. She checked her watch. It was 9:57.

Martinez was leaning back in his chair, thinking about Maria and wishing he was with her instead of sitting on this wall watching for biters that couldn't get past the wall anyway. He was trying to decide if it was too soon to ask her if she wanted to stay with him in his apartment instead of with the girls she had come to town with. Maybe he should wait a week. Or mauybe he could just ask if she wanted to at least stay over on nights he didn't have guard duty. He smelled the coffee before he saw it coming.

"Hi," Cassandra said, "I felt so bad for all you, having to sit out here all night protecting the town, the governor said I could bring you all some coffee." She gave him a big smile. Most of the men on the wall got excited. Coffee was one of the things that was rationed in Woodbury. It was viewed as an emergency stimulant. Martinez had been hoping that having these girls here would make the governor lighten up a little, and he was glad to see he had been right.

Cassandra knew there were four of them, without counting Merle. So she had been sure to bring enough mugs. The men crowded around her, taking the mugs and sipping them gratefully, making things easy for her. She had been worried that there might be someone out here that didn't like coffee or tried not to take any. Once the liquid was portioned out, and Cassadra had been thanked by all the men, she headed like she was going back to the governor's apartment. When she got to the porch, she tossed the pot in the bushes and waited in the shadows, watching the men. It took about ten mintutes before they started passing out. When the last one nodded off, she ran for the bus.

Katie was under him, her hips rocking up to meet his thrusts. Then he felt her start to spasm around him as the inside of her flooded with warmth and got wetter than it already was. She was crying out, digging her nails into his back. Every movement made her breasts jiggle under him. He swore under his breath as he found his release, spilling himself inside her. Then he collapsed, rolling on his side next to her. She was still breathing hard and he pulled her close, loving the smell himself on her and in her hair. She hugged him back fiercely, and then she was rolling away.

"Where ya goin'?," he asked her. She offered him a sweet smile that didn't go all the way up to her eyes.

"Just to the bathroom," she said. Merle lay on his back, his arm over his eyes, feeling better than he had felt in a long time. Now he was wondering how much trouble he would get in if he didn't go back to watch duty at all tonight. The governor was busy with that little chinese girl, maybe he would never even know. The sound of a gun being checked and then loaded brought him out of his thoughts. When he looked up he saw Katie, holding his rifle, pointing it at him.

"Too tired for games," he told her, "come back to bed." He looked at her again. She was fully dressed and it did not look like she was playing. He rolled quickly, reaching for the loaded handgun he kept hidden under his nightstand. He felt the holster, but there was nothing inside it. The tall red haired woman he knew was Katie's sister came walking into the room behind her. She had his handgun dangling in her hand.

"Looking for this?," she asked. Then she cocked the gun and aimed it at him.


	10. Chapter 10

He pulled his pants back on, fumbling with the zipper and trying to keep one eye on the women that were holding guns on him. His guns. Fucking bitches. Merle thought about lunging at Katie and trying to get his rifle back, but he was fairly sure her sister would shoot him if he did. He would play along and see what they wanted first. Once they got outside, he could yell at some of the guys on watch duty and get some help.

"Where are we going?," he asked them. Katie poked him in the back with his rifle.

"Move," she said. He couldn't help but notice her voice sounded different. It struck him then that these girls had been putting on an act since they got to Woodbury. They never had any intention of settling down and living here. This is what they had planned all along. He should have put it together when he was hunting with Katie. She was too good to be just some random chick that stayed at home cooking and cleaning in normal life like she had been trying to pretend. But he had been more worried about getting her into bed than he had been about whether or not she was telling the truth about her life before the turn.

They walked out the front door of his building. Merle turned, intending to get the attention of the men watching the wall. That's when he saw they were all lying on the wall and on the ground near it. Not knowing about the drugged coffee, Merle assumed they had all been killed. And that's when he started getting scared. The ground was hard under his bare feet. And it didn't take him long to figure out where the girl were taking him. When they rounded the street corner, he saw the bus they came in on was pulled up outside the armory, with the back door open.

They marched him inside, where Milton was sitting on the floor. His back was against the metal cage that was supposed to keep people out of the armory, and his hands were cuffed above his head. He looked scared. The cage door was already open. Merle guessed they must have used Milton's keys. But the gun safes were closed. Milton didn't know the combinations. He almost never came in here.

"Sit down," Mandy ordered, pointing to a spot on the floor near Milton. Merle sat where she told him. Then he saw the tall black woman whip out another pair of handcuffs. Katie held the gun on him, but she saw the panic in his eyes. She didn't know for sure, but she guessed it had something to do with his missing hand. He did not want those cuffs put on.

"We aren't going to hurt you if you do what we tell you to do," she told him.

"Fuck you, you lying whore," Merle spit back at her. He felt the side of his face explode in pain. Mandy had hit him hard across the face with his gun. Then Roberta pinned his arm against the fence above him and Maria hooked the cuff on. He rubbed at his face with the wrist of his bad arm, tasting blood in his mouth. Roberta was leaning over him.

"The combinations to the safes," she asked, "what are they?"

"Fuck you nigger bitch," Merle swore, "I ain't telling your whore ass nothing." She stepped back, putting one hand up on her hip. Then she looked at Mandy and shrugged.

"Cut his fucking dick off then," Roberta told the other woman. Katie knew this was just a threat to scare him, but it made her a little sick anyway. She took a deep breath and held tight to the rifle. Mandy pulled out a wicked looking hunting knife. She spun it around in her hand. Then she started getting closer to him. Merle was pushing at the ground with his feet, trying to get in a good position to kick her.

"For god's sake just tell them what they want to know," Milton cried out. Everyone ignored him. Addy and Cassandra pinned Merle's legs down when he tried to kick at them. And Mandy was getting closer to him with the knife.

"Fuck," he swore, "twenty-four, sixty-two, eleven." He nodded towards the closest safe.

"Check and make sure its the truth," Mandy told Roberta. She spun the little number dial, then pulled the handle. The safe unlocked and pulled open with a satisfying clinking noise. Mandy got off him and the other girls let go of his legs.

"This one now," Roberta said, heading to the next safe.

"Forty-nine, six, eighty-three." The next safe popped open. Then he gave them the combination to the last one. Once they had the doors, open the girls ignored both the captive men and began filling bags, unloading the contents of all three safes and taking everything out to their bus. Merle watched the girls. He was becoming increasingly less scared of them, and more scared of what was going to happen to him when the governor found out what had happened. Katie was taking great pains not to look in his direction, and he noticed that as well.

She took a load of guns out and tossed them on the bus, then came back for more. When he saw her come back in, Merle started hollering at her.

"He is going to kill me when he finds out I gave you the safe combinations," he said, "you know he is going to fucking kill me. Hey! I am fucking talking to you Katie!" She ignored him, but he saw the muscles in her shoulders tense up. Then she turned and ran back outside. He heard some quiet murmured voices, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Roberta came in with a roll of duct tape and leaned over him. She slapped a piece of tape over his mouth, a little harder than was necessary to make it stick. Katie did not come back in again until all the guns and ammo were gone. And Merle couldn't be sure, since he didn't actually see anyone, but he was pretty sure he heard men's voices outside.

When the room was empty, Katie came back in. She dropped the handcuff keys out near Merle's feet. He would be able to scoot them closer and uncuff himself, but it would take him a long time. She pulled the tape off his mouth, wincing as some of the hair on his face came off with it. She held there still for a moment, like she wanted to say something. But then she just got up and walked out of the cage. Katie locked the cage and then stuffed the keys through so they fell on the floor inside. And then she was gone. Merle heard the engine of the bus start up. And then he heard them pull away.

Once they saw that the town had been taken, and that the girls were cleaning out the armory, Joe and his men came down from the spot they had been hiding out in the woods. He knew there was a good chance the girls would take off and not meet him at the arranged spot now that they had what they wanted. And he wasn't going to let that happen. So he and his men came down and started helping them load up the bus. One of the girls rolled her eyes at him, but otherwise they didn't seem to mind his presence.

Katie sat down on the bench behind the driver's seat. She was feeling upset. But everyone else was in good spirits. Most of them were laughing and whooping it up. Cassandra came up from the back of the bus with her pack. She made a big deal about shushing everyone up. Then she dug around inside the bag.

"Not only did we take their guns," she said. Then she whipped out couple full bottles of good liquor. "I stole that asshole's liquor too!" Even Katie laughed at that. Then she got up and snagged one of the bottles, twisting the top off and taking a few good swigs before she handed it back. Cassandra looked over the group of scraggly men. She wrinkled her nose up, trying to decided which one was less repulsive than the others. They all smelled like old baloney and dirty socks.

"You," she said, pointing to one of the men with a dude rag on his head. At least he didn't have any facial hair. Most of them looked like they hadn't shaved since the turn. "You!," she said again, motioning to him, "come here." The man stood up and approached her. She grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him close to her and kissing him hard and sloppy with a lot of tounge. Then she shoved him back down into his seat.

"What the hell was that?," the man asked. Not that he was complaining, but her kiss had taken him by surprise.

"Just need to get the taste of something out of my mouth," Cassandra told him. The women started laughing and a few of the men laughed along with them. Roberta drove the bus about an hour away. Since the men from Woodury had no idea which way they even went, she decided they were safe enough for the night. Driving at night was something they only did if they had to. She pulled up near an old McDonalds. The bus was tall enough that they could go out the emergency door on the ceiling and climb up on the roof of the building. Just in case anyone was looking for them, they decided not to make a fire.

All the girls were up on the roof, laughing and drinking with the men from Joe's group. But Katie stayed down in the bus. She was glad they got the guns they needed. When they got them back to camp, she would be able to keep her family safe. But she was feeling bad all the same. Bad about stealing, bad about tricking Merle, who she actually kind of liked. And really really bad that the governor might hurt him because of what she did. When he asked her to, she had been ready to uncuff him and let him come with them. But Roberta and Mandy told her no fucking way. There was no doubt in her mind that they were right, but it didn't make her feel any better. She tipped her cup back, letting the last few drops of tequilla slide down her throat. Then she felt the slight vibration of someone coming in through the top door of the bus and landing hard on the metal floor.

When she looked up, she saw it was Joe, the leader of the other group. She gave him a halfhearted smile and leaned her head back against the cool glass of the window, hoping he would go back the way he came from. Instead, he came sauntering over, sliding into the seat next to her. Lifting up his hand, he grazed her arm with the skin of his knuckles. Then he handed her another cup of liquor.

"You are too pretty to be looking so sad," he told her. Katie gave him another soft smile. A fake one. She took the cup and tossed it's contents down her throat in one big gulp.

"Not sad, I'm just tired," she lied. She went to lean her head against the glass again, and bumped her forehead into the window a little too hard. Leaning back against the seat, she rubbed at her head. She pressed her hand against the top of the bus seat, trying to get into a standing position. But the world was suddenly spinning fast around her, swirling into a blur. Her knees were going to give out, and her legs felt like jello. The last thing she rememered before she passed out was the feeling of arms under her legs and behind her back, lifting her into the air.

Penny woke up scared. She had another nightmare. She called loudly for her dad, but no one came. The room was dark, and she remembered that her dad had told her not to come out bothering him unless it was an emergency. She squirmed in her bed. Not only was she scared from her dream, but she also had to pee. Tossing the blankets back, she climbed out of bed, shivering when her bare feet touched the cold floor.

"Dad?," she called. Sometimes her dad went out at night, but he always came right back. And sometimes, he had women that stayed the night with him. And when he did, he didn't like Penny bothering him. "Dad?," she called out again, inching closer to the doorway of his bedroom. She pushed the door open slowly, peeking inside. What she saw confused her. Her dad was lying on the bed, his arms and legs stretched out. And it looked like his limbs were fastened in place with the things he wore around his neck sometimes when he wanted to look fancy.

She crawled up onto the bed, shoving at her dad, trying to wake him up. He did not respond to her at all. And Penny was starting to get scared. She yelled louder, shaking him hard by the shoulders. He still didn't wake up. Penny wasn't sure what to do. Her only thought was that she ought to get some help, maybe find a doctor for her dad. Or at least another grown up. Someone that would know what to do.

The lock on the door was hard for Penny to reach, but she pulled a chair over and stood on it. Then she pulled the chair away and turned the lock on the doorknob. She swung the door open and crept out into the hall. The hall was dark and scary. But she kept going, hugging the little bear she slept with tightly to her chest. She got to the door that led outside the building. Luckily, the lock on that door was much lower. It was easy for her to reach. She flipped it and slid quietly outside.

Penny had never been outside by herself, and she had never been outside at night. Not since they had come to live here. She took a deep breath, her little hands shaking. Then she ran towards the wall. She wasn't supposed to go near it, but she knew there were always people sitting on it, especially at night. The men on the wall kept her and everyone else in town safe. Surely one of them could help her dad.

She ran fast, the pavement hard and scratchy against her feet. When she got close, she saw a man lying on the ground near the wall. Bending down, she saw it was Ceaser, one of her father's friends. She tried to wake him up. Just like her father, he didn't budge, even when she shook him hard and yelled. The other men up on the wall were also asleep. Penny started to cry. She was scared that everyone was dead and gone, and she was all alone.

Penny climbed one of the steep ramps, even though she had been warned many times by her father to never go near the wall, let alone climb the ramp and stand on top of it. All the men were asleep, and none of them would wake up. She looked out over the wall. And she was relieved by what she saw there. A man was walking towards the front gates of the town. He looked a little dirty, but at least he was awake. Maybe he would be willing to help her father, or at least help her find someone that could.

The ramp was steep. Penny sat on her behind and scooted part of the way down. Then she got up and walked the rest of the way down. She went to the gates. The latch was easy to open. She knew it was important to keep the gates shut, so she reached her arm through the little slit and closed the latch behind her. Then she waved at the man, excited that he was already heading in her direction.

 **** Thanks to everyone that took the time to leave me a review. If you want more of this story its in my companion piece The Lady Claimers. ****


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